Place: Coombs Fairgrounds (Ford Road, Behind the General Store)Machinery and Farm Implements - Livestock and Poultry - Quality Small ItemsNo Buyers Fee - Quality working farm related consignments accepted prior to the saleThis will be a quality sale where consignors bringing good items can expect to get good prices

The Traceability Speaker Program provides speaker funding to agriculture and seafood organizations to educate their membership about traceability principles, systems, technologies, or infrastructure through educational events such as workshops, seminars, presentations or demonstrations.

The funding supports up to 100% of costs associated with traceability speaker expenses, to a maximum of $3,500 per event, $10,000 per sector.Funding is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The program ends on March 31, 2018.For more information and apply for funding, click here.Tiffany Guan, M.Sc., P.Ag.Traceability Program SpecialistBC Ministry of AgricultureTel: 604 556-3059http://gov.bc.ca/agrifoodtraceability

BC Agriculture Council WATER LICENSING UPDATE- ALL NON-DOMESTIC WELL USERS MUST NOW BE LICENSED.

Deadline for waived application fee has been extended to December 31, 2017 (previously March 1, 2017)What does this mean for Farmers? - The Water Sustainability Act and new regulations were brought into effect on February 29, 2016. This legislation requires all non-domestic groundwater users, including farmers and ranchers, to apply for a water license.Existing groundwater users will have a 3-year period to apply for a license (Feb 29, 2016 - Mar 1, 2019). Licenses will also be required for any newly constructed wells from 2016 onward, with the exception of wells used only for only domestic purposes. Existing well owners that apply for a license in the first two years (2016 and 2017) will be exempted from application fees (until December 31, 2017). Applications received from January 1, 2018 and onward will need to pay the additional application fee.Why license? It's the law! - Protect your rights by licensing your well. Licensees will have a right to use water based on their date of first use. Their rights will be protected based on the current First-in-Time-First-in-Right (FITFIR) priority water allocation system.Under the FITFIR system, licensees with earlier licence dates (senior licensees) have priority over later licence dates (junior licensees) for accessing water. These rights are important during times of drought or water scarcity.

BC Cattlemen's Association developed a Helpful Hints document to help guide producers through the online licensing application.

For help with the application process contact FrontCounter BC at 1-877-855-3222 (toll free)

If you are curious about the potential cost of your well a Water Rent Estimation Calculator has been created and can be found here.

The BCAC Water Sustainability Committee continues to work closely with government to ensure the implementation of BC's new Water Sustainability Act is as easy and painless as possible.

Livestock Tag Reader Rebate program

The ministry has recently launched the new Livestock Tag Reader Rebate program, funded by Growing Forward 2. The program targets small livestock producers in B.C. that do not meet the eligibility requirement of $30K in annual farm income of the ministry’s On-Farm-Food Safety and Traceability program, also a GF2 program. The new program intends to help small livestock producers with the purchase of a livestock tag reader and associated software so they are prepared to meet the anticipated federal regulations on livestock movement reporting.The program will reimburse up to 70% of the cost of these readers to a maximum of $3,500 per applicant. Eligible expenses are livestock tag readers (hand-held or panel readers), reader installation, related software and related equipment training. Readers must be listed on the CCIA’s Conditionally Verified Readers list. For a link to the list and more information including an application form, visit http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/industry/agriculture-seafood/programs/food-safety/livestock-tag-reader-rebate-program. The livestock applicant must also be registered in the ministry’s Premises Identification program. Registration for BCPID can happen simultaneously as the application to the Tag Reader program.Spread the word on the new program. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.Tiffany Guan, M.Sc., P.Ag.Traceability Program Specialist

Post-Farm Food Safety and Traceability Program (PFFST) The PFFST Program seeks to improve food safety and traceability by providing funding up to a maximum of $35,000 through cost-shared funding to eligible BC agrifood businesses to:·conduct food safety and traceability assessments to identify and document risks, issues and opportunities to improve food safety and traceability capacity, systems and practices;

·access training to increase the food safety and traceability expertise of their staff; and

·implement Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), Best Practices (BPs) and recognized Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety practices and traceability systems in their operations.

PFFST program is being delivered by Food Processing Human Resources Council (FP HRC) until Feb 28, 2018. For more information, please contact Dayna Poulin at 1-877-963-7472 or at dpoulin@fphrc.ca. If you have any questions about PFFST program, you can also contact Navneet Gill at 604-556-3079 or Navneet.Gill@gov.bc.ca

Putting in place recognized food safety and traceability systems will support BC agribusinesses effectively manage food safety risk, access new markets, and retain and expand existing markets. PFFST program is now accepting applications. Program application, guidelines and related documents are available at http://postfarmfoodsafety.com/home/

BC FoodWorks Program will accelerate the success of agrifood processing companies based in British Columbia. The Program will support individual small- and medium-sized enterprises in the food, functional food, and natural health product sector by providing business training, customized workshops, one-on-one coaching and mentoring, ongoing business support, networking and marketing opportunities to address challenges related to business planning, human resources, export development, investment attraction, operations, regulatory processes and/or sales and marketing. If you are aware of any companies that might be interested in participating in the program, feel free to direct them to the BC FoodWorks webpage: https://bcfoodworks.com/

· Access training to increase the food safety and traceability expertise of their staff; and

· Implement good agricultural practices (GAPs), best practices (BPs) and recognized hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) food safety practices and traceability systems in their operations.

The program targets on-farm agri-businesses producing food for human consumption and businesses seeking first-time certification in internationally recognized HACCP-based food safety assurance programs. B.C. companies that use recognized food safety and traceability standards, and implement food safety and traceability systems, effectively manage food safety risk, and create opportunities to access new markets and increase sales.The program is administered and delivered by PricewaterhouseCoopers.Learn more about the program and how to apply

Government of Canada Funding: Canadian Summer Jobs - Canada Summer Jobs provides funding to help employers create summer job opportunities for students. It is designed to focus on local priorities, while helping both students and their communities.

The Pacific Field Corn Association's Silage Corn Hybrid Yield Trials are now complete for 2016. Abbotsford site is seeded early and had 47 entries; Agassiz site is seeded late and had 25 entries; the Interior site had 21 entries. All data tables report the 2016 results and the Long-term average results.

Gaia College works in partnership with professional associations, public educational institutions, community organizations and private corporations to deliver education in sustainable technologies. We licence curriculum for classroom courses and offer online course as well. To find out more please visit: www.gaiacollege.ca

Watch our video on developing Agricultural Water Storage!Cowichan valley agricultural producers have a new video resource to assist them in addressing water management complexities on their farms.

The groundwork for the video was laid at last year’s Islands Agriculture Show (2016), where the BC Agriculture and Food Climate Action Initiative worked with local partners to offer a farm tour and two panel sessions focused on drought, water supply, water management and developing farm-level water storage. The tour featured visits to 4 local farms that showcased different types of production systems utilizing differing water sources, water storage and water delivery systems. The panels included subject matter experts from the BC Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, and agricultural producers.Footage from the panels and farm tours were incorporated into a water storage and management video and is available for viewing through the following link. www.bcagclimateaction.ca/regional-project/cw08/This video was developed as a part of the Agricultural Water Storage and Management Knowledge Transfer project which is filling a knowledge gap that was identified through consultation with a wide number of producers in the Cowichan Valley. During previous workshops on Extreme Events and Preparedness in the Cowichan, producers identified effective drainage systems and on-farm water storage as important elements of adaptation – in some cases essential for mitigating the impacts of extreme events (i.e. flooding and extended dry periods). Since installation of appropriate water infrastructure can be a challenge for individual producers, knowledge transfer – including demonstration and improving available informational resources – was seen as a necessary support.

Four British Columbia companies have each won $20,000 for developing B.C. tech to help solve aproblem identified as part of the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and the BC Innovation Council’s Innovation Challenge.

Bats and White Nose Syndrome

(WNS) WNS is an invasive fungal disease that has killed 7 million bats in eastern North America since arriving here in 2006 and caused emergency listing of Little Brown and Northern Bats in Canada due to 90% to 100% declines at some hibernacula. WNS was detected in Washington State in 2016 and is likely to spread to BC, putting our bats at risk.